Spiders and silkworms are masters of materials science, but scientists are finally catching up. Silks are among the toughest materials known, stronger and less brittle, pound for pound, than steel.

The strength–ductility trade-off has been a long-standing dilemma in materials science. This has limited the potential of many structural materials, steels in particular. Here we report a way of ...

When contemplating the use of perforated metal, the ability to offer a preferred level of strength can be very significant. If it is known that perforated metal is not as robust as non-perforated ...